F1 Most liked posts in thread: F1 - 2013

And nothing seems to have come of Hamilton passing under the yellow.....

 

Yes, I just found out about this.....he apparently dropped his radio, bent down to retrieve it, stumbled and fell under the wheels of the vehicle carrying Guitierrez's car off the track. Sad.

On a second note, someone else might be "dead" too.......

Toto Wolff has played down rumours Ross Brawn is shaping up as the sacrificial lamb in the Mercedes 'testgate' scandal.

The German marque is touted to face the FIA's new international tribunal on June 20, but team boss Brawn seems to have paved the way for taking all the blame.

"It was my decision to do the test, that's a fact", Briton Brawn, whose long-term future at the Brackley based team was already under a cloud, said in Canada.

Asked if the team's new guard, Niki Lauda and Wolff, were informed of that highly contentious decision before the test took place, Brawn insisted: "That's not something I want to comment on."

So the rumour is that Brawn will depart off the back of the 'test-gate' saga, with his undoubted successor Paddy Lowe now already at work at Brackley.

"What I don't understand is that Paddy Lowe is committed to being team boss," former F1 team owner and principal Eddie Jordan told German Sky television in Montreal.

"Can you have two team bosses? No," he answered himself.

Mercedes' new co-owner and director Wolff, however, played down the speculation Brawn will be sacrificed.

"We are a team, we are together, and the blame is not going to be pushed onto one individual, rather we support each other and we support Ross," he told Sky.

Germany's Bild am Sonntag reports that Lauda sat down with Red Bull's Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko earlier this week to try to calm their anger, but to no avail.

McLaren, however, has been almost silent.

From Grandprix.com

As I posted earlier, nothing seems to have come of Hamilton passing Guitierrez on lap 44 in a flashing yellow zone. It was clear as day on the replay, from both the behind and ahead camera perspectives

 

Did not know that, we left as soon as the race was over...very sad. Will go and see what happened.

 

It sure sounded like the boos and jeers were being directed at SV. He did a good job of ignoring it.

 

Thanks Nathan, I thought they were saying it was Hammy......still, why was that ignored? Some obscure rule I don't know about?

I know, it's a conspiracy! so that Vettel doesn't seem to run away with the championship again this year!

 

I said earlier that when Lauda comes in Brawn will be forced out. It happens everywhere he goes. The testgate is just going to be the accuse they need.

Oh no Merc didn't get any advantage from the testing. Now their ware rates on are par with everyone else. Their performance in Canada will just hurt them on the 20th.

 

Can't find much official on Alonso's pass.. Looking at the replay it is a much slower back marker who had obviously pulled way over off the line to allow Alonso through...

Yes I am a Ferrari fan but I still would like to hear the FIA spin, if the rule is clear, that there is NO passing of any kind under a yellow, he should have received a penalty.

As for the extra private testing MB received, then give all the other teams (not MB) the opportunity of having three full testing days after the next race and then see how the Martini is stirred...

 

I think there are two sets of rules as far as the GP goes. Sutil in a Farce Indaia gets a drive through for blocking when he clearly moved over to let the leaders by. Alonso in a Ferrari passes under yellow & gets no penalty. Standard practice in F1 me thinks.

 

You just cannot equate the value to any team, even more so to a team that possesses the resources that MB does, of three full testing days at a track you just raced at, and you are the only ones invited.

Tis remarkable that even more is not being said about this.:sly:

 

Why would it flash yellow where the drivers approach & red & yellow on the back side? Makes no sense at all.

They could have changed the light to desbris after Alonso past, but it sure was yellow during that pass he made.

 

^^^this (Nathan)......

Was the same kind of thing that happened at Brazil last year, remember

 

Two things from the UK TV coverage:

- David Coulthard was very sure that Rosberg and Hamilton would have got an advantage from the testing since they were doing lots of laps in a no-stress environment where they could try out different driving styles and see what worked.

- Eddie Jordan interviewed Ross Brawn who was fairly non-committal, though he pointed out that it was 2014 prototype tyres they were testing, not current ones.

 

/\ Exactly.

 

Sure, and it was stupid beyond belief that they did that kind of testing. But the tyres aren't the problem. The tyres have never been the problem. The complaining was the normal F1 drama kings and queens yelling because it's what they do.

The problem is the testing. Yes. That was dumb. It was dumb of Pirelli to pay attention to the shouters, and it was dumb of Mercedes to participate the way they did. All criticism is fair and deserved as far as the testing goes.

So yeah, the testing is cut and dried.

But there was never a real problem with the tyres. Pirelli should have ignored the shouting.

At least, that's how i see it.

 

I'm not totally sure tire wear of the Pirellis is the problem. If it was just tire wear, teams would adapt their strategies to fit. They all know the supersofts are good for something like 5 laps and mediums are in the 40 to 50 range in general. However, there were a few tires that shredded themselves apart when to they were not totally worn out yet. I could be anything that caused that to happen, such as the way the cars are set up, or the way certain drivers' driving style. But the fact remains, some tires literally broke apart at speed, as opposed to a gradual wear down.

I feel I might understand this issue a bit, because the Pirelli Euphorias that came with my car came apart even though there was lots of tread left on the tires and I did not hit anything obvious. A close inspection showed the tread seam had dried out and the rubber cracked. The stiff sidewalls of the runflat tire pulled out and away from the tire tread. I'm not saying this is the same issue as an F1 tire, but I am of suspicion that the construction design of the belts might be remotely related amongst all Pirelli tires and a similar thing may be happening to some F1 tires.
ostcount

 

The problem with the tire test has nothing to do with tires really, it has everything to do with allowing a big player such as MB to get three test days with this year's cars and drivers in the middle of a season that they were mostly non competitive in.

Now they have one win and one third place finish in the first two races since the test. The tires were just an excuse for the FIA and Bernie to give MB a chance to catch up. Period.

 

I'm pretty sure that Hamilton didn't score all 77 of his points in the last two races? The funny thing is that I'm not even a big fan of Hamilton and I keep defending the actions of the Merc team.

 

I think we must be watching different seasons

All along, before Monaco, everyone (Red Bull) was crying about the tyres. The wore out too fast. It's not "real" racing any more if the drivers can't push. The tyres were the only thing anyone talked about.

Now, before the testing, before Monaco happened, Mercedes were getting on pole. They had great qualifying times. Long before Monaco everyone said "Mercedes is going to be strong in Monaco, because they qualify well, and passing is difficult."

THEN the tyre testing happened, THEN Monaco happened. Mercedes won, just like everyone had predicted LONG BEFORE THE TESTS HAPPENED.

So, no. Mercedes didn't win Monaco because of the tests. For those with short or selective memories, Mercedes was predicted to do well at that track all along.

You can argue that Mercedes had an advantage at Canada, but the fact that Nico pitted more often than any other driver (who wasn't also getting a wing replaced) kind of negates that. Lewis has won Canada every time he's been there (when he hasn't crashed out) so we know that it's a track he's strong at. He was always favored to do well there.

So to sum up:

1- Yes, Mercedes and Pirelli did wrong to have those tests.
2- No, they did not gain any clear advantage from it - They'd been predicted to win Monaco for weeks prior, Canada is Lewis' strongest track, Nico pitted more than any other driver.

 

Rosberg only had more stops because someone was stupid enough to put on 2 sets of super softs. Hamilton did what the rest did with 1 super soft and 2 medium sets.

So yes they did get an advantage from the test. Earlier this season Hamilton would not have been able to run the same degradation rate as the other cars.

I agree. I'd rather allow everyone else to have 3 days of testing then penalize Merc. Certainly McLaren could use it.